Never Easy
by Becca Brady
Summary: As Ste and Doug's opening date for the deli approaches, could Joel's interference mess up everything for not only the two young entrepreneurs, but also for the very man he's trying to impress? Rated M for later chapters. Brendan/Ste/Doug/Joel centred.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: this is a fic that came to me a while ago, sort of 'if I was to write for Hollyoaks later' kind of idea. I'm writing it while I try and work out how I want the next chapter of Cracks in the Mirage to go. Also, I miss writing for an older Brendan and I miss writing for Ste, so…. **

**It's my first fic that isn't from anyone's point of view, which is a bit weird, but oh well ;) **

**Not much actually happens in this chapter, but it's a kind of prologue, setting the scene. Sorry for any typos, I did proof-read, but I wrote it and re-read it at 5 to 6am, before I'd even slept... *yawn*  
**

_**Title: Never Easy**_

_**Fandom: Hollyoaks**_

_**Author: BeccaBrady **_

_**Rating: M**_

_**Genre: Drama/Romance**_

_**Warning: Slash, Swearing, some graphic scenes, sexual references, violence, blood-loss. **_

It _always _rained on a Saturday in Chester, _always, _Ste thought as he gazed sightlessly out of the window in his kitchen. He absentmindedly stirred his and Amy's cups of tea and sighed. He was supposed to be going to the deli this morning to do the finishing touches before they opened up in a week's time, but he really didn't feel like going out in the sheeting rain, not when his favourite TV show was on in half an hour and his warm bed was calling for him.

But of course, he had a duty, now that the place was his and Doug's, they had to work for it. He owed a lot to Doug, what with him providing the money and brains to make all of this possible, and he wasn't going to let him down and be that stupid failure that everyone probably thought he was. And he owed it to Amy, and his kids, to make something of himself. They've always had faith in him, so he was making them proud. He was going to show them that Daddy could stand on his own two feet. Then maybe he'd be able to give Leah and Lucas some amazing presents at Christmas and birthdays, without the money being hot, or borrowed.

He sighed and shook his head, trying not to get ahead of himself. They hadn't even opened the deli yet! He took the mugs of tea over to the sofas and passed one to Amy, sitting down on the chair beside the sofa. She thanked him and inhaled before taking a sip.

"Mmm…" She looked at him. "Don't you have a deli to get to…?" She glanced over to the window. "it's pissing it down…"

Ste nodded tiredly and looked at the TV as Jeremy Kyle yelled at some dysfunctional woman as the caption read _"I slept with my boyfriend and his brother, who's the father of my baby?" _Ste never did understand why Amy always insisted on getting up to watch _Jeremy Kyle _every Saturday and Sunday morning, but then again, he never really did understand women's taste in TV. Rae's was diabolical.

Leah and Lucas were sat on the floor playing with their toys and Amy was fixated on _Jeremy Kyle_, giving Ste no choice but to help Leah brush the hair of her doll, considering Lucas hit him with a toy train when he tried to play with him. Leah insisted on brushing Daddy's hair after that and Ste sat there wincing while Leah repeatedly bashed him on the head with a small pink brush as he tried to drink his tea. He was certain; each day, his kids found a new way to abuse him…

After around an hour, Ste stood up, with a stomach full of tea and toast and a somewhat sore head. He shrugged his jacket on, sighing a little. He told Amy he had to go and kissed her on the cheek, before bidding goodbye to his kids, who both totally ignored him, and walking out into the unrelenting onslaught of rain. He pulled his jacket tightly around him and shivered. The rain was going to mess his hair up, but he hadn't really bothered with it this morning, and he wasn't too worried about that, to be honest. He was more bothered about the chance of getting pneumonia, which felt like it was growing more possible every passing moment.

He reached the deli after what felt like years of walking, even though it was only around 5 minutes, and shook the rain water from his form, peeling his jacket off. Doug was behind the counter, arranging some things around. He looked up at Ste and laughed softly.

"Alright, watch where you're dripping that water… I just sorted that floor out…" He warned with only a half seriousness to his American voice.

Ste apologised and hung his coat on the little stand they had beside the door for the customers they would most surely have in a week's time. He shivered a little again, his body adjusting slowly to the heating of _Carter & Hay, _their deli. Ste looked around the room and smiled a little. He couldn't believe how far they'd come, how they'd gone from making little treats at his daughter's party, to getting eighty thousand pounds from Doug's family and opening up a deli.

"It's gonna be dead mint this when it opens, init?" Ste voiced randomly. Doug smiled and looked around a bit, before looking at Ste.

"Er, yeah… we've still got quite a way to go before we're ready to open though, so…" Doug shrugged, disappearing as he ducked behind the counter to tidy things up.

Ste walked over to the window and straightened the blinds, brushing the little bits of dust off them, gazing out of the window. He couldn't help but let his eyes trail up to the balcony of _Chez Chez, _only to catch sight of a suited man stood there, leaning on the railings, looking down at the deli, like the rain wasn't even touching him. Brendan Brady. He didn't even seem affected by the rain, didn't seem cold or drenched. He looked cool, calm, and he was looking right at Ste. Ste subconsciously held his gaze for a moment, before clearing his throat and turning to Doug.

"Right… I'll go sort the bathroom, shall I?" and he hurried off, trying not to think about how he'd found himself gazing at Brendan fucking Brady moments ago.

-OXO-

It didn't look too bad, the deli, Brendan had decided as he stood on the balcony of his nightclub. The name '_Carter & Hay' _was a little unimaginative though, to be fair. Though, he'd come to the conclusion that neither Douglas nor Stephen really had any imagination. He'd actually watched Stephen hurry through the sheets of rain only moments ago and barge through the door of the deli with the most inelegant of movements.

Not like Brendan paid much attention to him, of course.

The rain was soaking through his suit, he could feel the dampness on his skin, but he didn't really care; it was only a bit of water. Besides, he liked standing up here, observing the village. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. Sure, he had a lot of stock taking he could be doing, a lot of profit workings and paperwork to do, but like he said, he had nothing _better_ to do. He was the boss, and the endless sheets of sums and forms could wait.

Not like Brendan found particular interest in the deli across the road, of course.

There was a flicker of movement coming from the deli and Brendan's attention returned, looking down at the window, seeing Stephen straightening the blinds. He watched him, stared at him. Even from this distance, he saw Stephen looking right back at him, his eyes full of wonder and a mild distain for the man he was looking at. Sure, Stephen despised Brendan, or so Stephen said. But Brendan believed otherwise. After all, Stephen was in his grip for so long, under his control and spell for so long.

Not like Brendan really cared how Stephen felt for him, of course.

And then Stephen was gone. Back into the deli and out of Brendan's sight. It was interesting, how Brendan still seemed to evoke some sort of response from deep inside Stephen, considering Stephen despised him. Or so Stephen said. He continued to watch the deli, wondering how much profit they'd make, and how quickly Douglas would be able to pay him back.

Though, it wasn't like Brendan particularly needed or wanted the money back. He was perfectly happy with Stephen and Douglas keeping the money, like a gift from Brendan. But Brendan knew he had to take the money back from Douglas, or else little Douglas would get suspicious of Brendan's intentions, and the last thing Brendan wanted was Douglas jumping to the wrong conclusions and seeing Brendan as some soft hearted little girl.

The door behind him clicked shut, breaking Brendan's trail of thought and he heard slow footsteps on the grating. Brendan didn't need to turn around. The only person who would come out of the club in the sheeting rain out of mere curiosity was his dear business partner. Joel Dexter. Or Scottish Foxy, as Brendan more commonly knew him as.

"Scottish Foxy…to what do I owe this…pleasure?" He drawled, chewing on his gum slowly and deliberately, watching the deli with dark, heavy eyes.

Joel rolled his eyes and leaned on the side railings, looking at the back of Brendan's figure. "What're you doing out here?" He asked curiously.

"oh, ye know me…I'm like a big…duck." Brendan replied sarcastically. "Can't stay outta the rain…Love it."

He heard Joel's exasperated sigh behind him. He knew his sarcasm and odd sense of humour grated on Joel, considering he never really got a proper answer out of him. But it was fun, hearing him groan and mutter things under his breath at Brendan's cool sarcasm.

"Funny." Joel replied, monotonically. "You're watching Ste and Doug's deli, aren't you?"

Joel had expected that to evoke some sort of response from Brendan. But he didn't move, didn't flinch. It was like Brendan hadn't even registered what he'd said. But then again, that was just Brendan. Nothing really fazed him. Not unless you smashed a bottle of wine over a certain Mancunian, Joel thought back and shuddered a little.

"I just like to see how my money's being spent…" Brendan answered smoothly, before standing up straight and turning to look at Joel.

Scottish Foxy already knew the money for the deli had come straight out of Brendan's pocket and into Douglas' bank account, so he didn't really have to make any lies or fables. But although Joel insisted he was smart, Scottish Foxy still strongly believed there was a deep, dark catch to him giving them the money, and Brendan knew he was wrong. No catch, just… little favours. Deals. Joel laughed humourlessly and nodded.

"Right…so it's got nothing to do with the fact that Ste runs half that business that you're watching it?" Joel raised his eyebrows, challenging Brendan. But yet he stayed cool, calm. Nothing Joel said touched Brendan, Joel should know that by now.

"…well, that's not of your business, is it?" He stared at Joel evenly and tilted his head to the side a little, leaning his face a little closer to Scottish Foxy's. "is it?"

Joel just studied him with cautious eyes and shook his head. He never really understood what Brendan's game was. He knew Brendan loved manipulating people, making them shake in their boots. Didn't work with Joel, no, but he still felt an air of warning surrounding Brendan. Even though they were 'business partners' he didn't doubt that Brendan would turn on him if he benefited him.

"No. Good boy." Brendan nodded. Then Brendan used two of his fingers to push Joel aside and walk out of the onslaught and into the warmer, dimly lit nightclub, closing the door, leaving Joel out in the rain.

**A/N: S'been a while since I've done some proper writing that involved already established characters, so I'm not sure how my characterisation came off. Nevertheless, there it was. I kinda liked it, if I do say so myself. But you might all hate it. Review and let me know? **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Major thanks go to my T (aka iamthebabelfish on twitter) here, for helping me when I had a wee panic attack about what I was going to do with this fanfiction. I'm calm now. Phew. Also, the summary changed, in case you didn't notice, because the plotline may or may not be changing. **

Doug wiped down the counter as he looked over to the window, streaked with rain. He sighed as his gaze travelled around the room, picking up on all the little problems, all the little imperfections that his and Ste's business had. They were supposed to be opening in a week's time, but Doug felt as if it would never happen, not with how far they had to go. Riley had promised he would come over today to help with some dodgy fusing but he'd text about 10 minutes ago to tell Doug he had Bobby today, and didn't want to venture out into the rain either.

He could hear Ste in the bathroom, humming some cheesy pop song that was in the charts and he rolled his eyes, smiling to himself at how Ste probably thought Doug couldn't hear him breaking into song occasionally. Ste had been so happy lately. In fact, Doug had never seen Ste so happy. Since they got the deli, Ste's whole personality had sort of lit up.

To be fair, it made Doug feel terrible. All of this came from dirty hot money, and Ste had no idea. Ste thought the money came from Doug's family and God knows what Ste would do if he found out that the money actually came from his abusive Irish ex and that his business partner was doing deals with the devil without telling him. Though, it seemed like Brendan had no intention of telling Ste that the money came from him, which was good, Doug thought. He didn't feel like explaining it all to Ste, didn't feel like seeing his hopes and dreams crushed and he certainly didn't feel like being on the receiving end of Ste's anger. He was sure Ste could be scary when he wanted to be.

But that wasn't the only thing Doug was worried about. He was worried about Brendan. For starters, you don't make deals with the devil and expect there not to be a price to pay. No, Doug knew that Brendan wanted something from Doug, after all he did try and get him to do some dodgy deal for him that resulted in Doug getting mugged, and although Brendan didn't seem to be using Doug for anything now, he was sure Brendan would come knocking on his door sometime in the future.

Doug wasn't really sure what Brendan's intentions were though. I mean, Doug being at Brendan's mercy, was that really worth eight thousand pounds? Besides, Doug knew Brendan. Brendan wouldn't fork out eighty thousand pounds just to get someone to do his dirty work when he could get any other sad fucker to do it… why him? Brendan said he "only wanted the best" for Ste, he remembered Brendan saying that. But he didn't really believe it. He'd heard some bad shit about the 'relationship' Brendan and Ste had.

He wiped down the counter and shifted the trays of food on the side so he could wipe underneath them. You see, there was some event in the village later that day and they'd already prepared the food for them, so it was just about getting it there and dealing with this place. Everything was so overwhelming for Doug. He'd gone from being unemployed to running his own business! But he was glad he was going into it with Ste. In fact, he wouldn't have it any other way…

His thoughts were broken as the door opened and Joel Dexter, Brendan's little lapdog wannabe walked strided in, clad in a leather jacket and tight black jeans. Doug fiddled awkwardly with the cloth in his hand, eyeing Joel up. Great, this was just what he needed.

"We're not open yet…" he told Joel timedly. Joel laughed softly.

"It's alright. I was only coming to see how you're getting on…you know, from one business man to another." He studied the deli as he headed behind the counter. "Not looking to bad, is it?"

Doug shifted uncomfortably. "What do you want, Joel? Does your master know you're not on your lead?"

Joel laughed and lifted up the foil covering the trays on the counter, taking one of the wraps and biting it.

"You're funny." He replied monotonically. "This is good."

Joel reminded Doug so much of his 'master', Brendan that is. Swaggering in like he owed the place, taking people's food… it was ridiculous. Soon, Joel would be twirling a Freddie Mercury moustache and turning gay…

"Hey! That's for an event, you can't just take…" He trailed off, knowing it was useless.

"Your food is good…y'know, it was kind of Brendan to lend ya that eighy grand, don't ya think?" Joel smiled and leaned on the counter. Doug's eyes widened and he looked over to the door leading to the bathroom where he knew Ste was.

"Alright! Keep your voice down…" Doug hissed. Joel glanced over at the door too and ate the rest of the wrap in his hand.

"…Don't worry, I won't breathe a word to little Ste… not as it stands now anyway." He leaned over and took another one of the wraps. "I'll take this…I'll see you around, yeah?"

And then Joel walked out, leaving a dumbstruck Doug behind. So Joel knew about the money? What was he thinking, of _course _Joel knew about the money. He was Brendan's little lapdog, wasn't he? But he knew Joel was a bit of a twat, almost as much as Brendan, so he didn't doubt that Joel would use this to his advantage…

Now he had _another _idiot on his back about that goddamn money? Great.

-OXO-

Joel walked out of the deli into the rain and took a bite of the wrap in his hand. Doug was so weak, so weedy. See, Brendan had taught him how to manipulate people, without realising it, probably. But he still picked up a lot from Brendan. Joel knew that Brendan was proud of how far he'd come, even if he acted like Joel was nothing more than a dissapointment sometimes. He'd been through a lot with Brendan and he'd messed up a lot, but Brendan was still sticking around, which was proof enough that he was proud, right? Or Brendan at least saw potential in him.

And Brendan was going to be even more proud now that he too had Doug in the palm of his hand. Doug was quaking in his boots before. God, it made him feel good seeing Doug like that. But the guy was stupid anyway, for making deals with the devil… especially if he's working with that Ste fella. He knew there was a load of history between him and Brendan, not like he was really sure what that was, but he didn't really want to know. Anyway, the point is, Doug was stupid and the decision to make deals with Brendan, when he was going into business with Ste was a dangerous decision, making it perfect for Joel to play around with.

He took another bite of the wrap and then finished it off. This food really was good though, Joel had to admit. He always had a thing for really good food… hm…maybe he'd buy something and try and go on a picnic with Theresa and Kathleen-Angel to win her around once the deli opens. No, no. That was a stupid idea. He'd take her out for dinner, that would be the best thing. A nice Italian restaurant where he could get the best table and food. He was sure Brendan would be able to pull a few strings and get him a place somewhere. Brendan always knew the right people.

He headed back to the club…his club and walked inside, making himself a drink. No matter what Brendan thought or said, this club was still half his and he was proud of it. He was 18 and set for life. Running a nightclub was pretty impressive, and he knew it. Sure, he might have got it from his Dad, but that's not the point, is it?

Once he'd become man enough in Brendan's eyes to stand alone, his life would be completely different. He couldn't wait to be _free. _To be one of those men who would skip queues to VIP nightclubs, to be one of those men who everyone was afraid of, to be one of those men who could just get what he wanted, when he wanted. And once he had Theresa on his arm, well, life would be just perfect. He could already feel it falling into place now! A few months ago he would never have been able to waltz into an unopened business and take their stock and make them quake with fear. No one would take him seriously… he used to be a joke! But not now…now people were afraid of him because, what? Because he'd got into bed with Brendan Brady? Not literally, of course. The guy was his mate, but he wouldn't go that far. No thank you. Brendan may be gay, but Joel was _not. _

Joel drained the last of his drink and looked out at his club before going to find Brendan… He wasn't on that damn balcony anymore, like he was earlier that day, because Joel would have seen him earlier… He could tell him all about his little encounter with Doug, or tell him about his plans to get Theresa back and turn himself into the perfect badboy. He also had a few plans for a night they could host at the club that he had to run by Brendan, even though the place _was _half his. Still, he knew his ideas were good, so how could Brendan resist?

And with that, he walked out of the club and headed back home in search of the very man he was thinking of, hoping he'd _finally _come up with a plan for the club that Brendan would be impressed with.


End file.
